By Chris Kain
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DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton released a statement this morning confirming that she won’t seek reelection this year and will retire at the end of her 18th term.

“I’ve had the privilege of representing the District of Columbia in Congress since 1991. Time and again, D.C. residents entrusted me to fight for them at the federal level, and I have not yielded,” Norton, 88, said in a statement that evoked phrases that helped define her congressional career as well as her civil rights advocacy. “With fire in my soul and the facts on my side, I have raised hell about the injustice of denying 700,000 taxpaying Americans the same rights given to residents of the states for 33 years.

“The privilege of public service is inseparable from the responsibility to recognize when it’s time to lift up the next generation of leaders,” she continued. “For D.C., that time has come.”

Norton’s statement came two days after her campaign filed a termination report with the Federal Election Commission and caps months of speculation over whether she’d seek another term — and whether she’s still up to the job amid signs of reduced stamina and vigor. A large field had already lined up to run for the delegate’s seat, including two members of the DC Council and a recently departed staffer who had been Norton’s senior legislative counsel.

News of the FEC filing broke Sunday morning, but Norton’s office didn’t comment until this morning.

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